What's cookin'?

In San Francisco? Not much, I'm afraid.

I've come to the conclusion that many residents of San Francisco do not cook. This is based on some of my experiences since I've moved to the city.

For example, this evening I was shopping in the bakery aisle of my local grocery store, looking for baking cups -- you know, for muffins and cupcakes.

Thanksgiving is coming up, and corn bread muffins have been in my head for weeks now. Since I won't be traveling home to the Midwest and my mom's Thanksgiving dinner this year (to save some money for the wedding), I thought I'd make some because Thanksgiving to me is just not Thanksgiving without corn bread muffins. Now, I realize I do not need baking cups for muffins, but my mom always makes them with the paper cups and they just look so darn cute with the pastel wrappers.

So there I am in the grocery aisle, picking out baking cups. At first I was a bit disappointed when I thought only white ones were available, but to my relief the pastel ones were just hidden below.

As I turn to put the cups in my cart, a young woman in the aisle sees me with my cups and approaches me. She's about mid-20s, I'd say, professionally dressed. She asks if I'm making cupcakes. A bit surprised, I blurt out that I'm making muffins.

She then asks me if there are special mixes for making cupcakes. A second passed as her question repeated in my head and I thought to myself, "Are you kidding me??"

Noticing that she has a disposable cupcake tin in her hands, I take pity on her and explain that she just needs a cake mix to make cupcakes.

Curious to see what the woman would pick out for her cupcakes, I pretend to browse the section of cake mixes myself -- ready to offer any other valuable cooking advice if needed.

I see her eying the higher shelves of brownies and think to myself, "No, no, no! Cake mixes! Cake mixes!" After a little while, she finally selects a moist chocolate cake mix, and I sigh.

Talk about a case for "Food 911" or "How to Boil Water." Tyler Florence, you're needed in San Francisco!